RRND Email Full Text (Scheduled)


  • The War on Immigrants Meets the War on Iran

    Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
    by Jacob G Hornberger

    “For those Americans who still believe that the U.S. government’s deadly, destructive, illegal, and unconstitutional war of aggression against Iran is about concern for the freedom and well-being of the people of Iran, what the U.S. government is now doing with its war on immigrants will help dispel such Americans of such a quaint notion. That’s because U.S. officials are in the process of deporting 400 Iranian immigrants to Iran as part of their war on immigrants. Yes, you read that right! U.S. officials are forcibly returning 400 Iranian immigrants to a country that the U.S. government and the Israeli government continue to bomb to smithereens. How is that action consistent with a supposed concern for the freedom and well-being of the Iranian people?” (03/23/26)

    https://www.fff.org/2026/03/23/the-war-on-immigrants-meets-the-war-on-iran/

  • The Late Robert Mueller, Bill of Rights Executioner

    Source: Libertarian Institute
    by Jim Bovard

    “Former FBI director Robert Mueller died last week at the age of 81. The New York Times eulogized him as a ‘button-down, lockjawed, rock-ribbed exemplar of a vanishing caste.’ In reality, Mueller was simply a twenty-first century version of J. Edgar Hoover, trampling the Constitution and seizing new power on any pretext.” (03/23/26)

    https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-late-robert-mueller-bill-of-rights-executioner

  • Why AI may never be profitable

    Source: Sex and the State
    by Cathy Reisenwitz

    “I’d kind of assumed that the frontier AI labs (Anthropic, OpenAI, X) would reap the financial rewards of frontier AI development. But that might not be correct. AI might be more like electricity than Google. After all, who profited from electrification? It certainly wasn’t the inventors. Or their companies. The people who got rich from electricity were the ones who used it to make other things. Profits went to the factory owners who electrified their factories and the folks who sold light bulbs. The electric companies became utilities. I had assumed that the companies currently building AI would become the next Google and Bing. However, many believe that the actual models are more likely to become cheap and interchangeable, like electricity. Or Wi-Fi. Or railroads.” (03/23/26)

    https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/why-ai-may-never-be-profitable

  • The Quest for Authenticity

    Source: Law & Liberty
    by Samuel Mace

    “In democracies, rulers require the consent of the governed. Even within elite theories of democracies, some sort of common consent is necessary. The easiest way to secure such consent is to persuade the people that you are really one of them. Politicians from elite backgrounds work to appear as if they are unafraid of working a day in McDonald’s, or plead for the fortunes of a favourite football team. They are not ‘regular people,’ but they try to look like they belong. These efforts cut across ideology as attempts to cultivate authenticity emerge on both the left and right. But politics cannot be defined by personality alone.” (03/23/26)

    https://lawliberty.org/the-quest-for-authenticity/

  • Imagining a 2028 Presidential Campaign for a Limited Presidency

    Source: Liberal Currents
    by Dennis Lytton

    “Jimmy Carter in 1977 cut the size of the White House staff by 30%. Coming just two years after Nixon’s resignation, Carter’s election coincided with a series of legislative reforms to tame the imperial presidency. Carter for a brief shining time seemed to embody that smaller presidency. He announced on his inauguration day that, ‘I would never permit my White House staff to try to run the major departments of government.’ We’ve endured nine withering years of Trump’s America (including what we now realize was but a fleeting interregnum under Biden). The idea that the presidency should be an executive with cabinet secretaries and independent agencies constrained strictly to statute and the constitution seems distant. Instead, the American imperial executive is led now by a few unaccountable staffers in the West Wing with the opaque character of a monarch’s courtiers.” (03/23/26)

    https://www.liberalcurrents.com/imagining-a-2028-presidential-campaign-for-a-limited-presidency/

  • Power Is Built One Conversation at a Time

    Source: Our Future
    by Sulma Arias

    “Many people in this country feel attacks on our civil liberties have gone too far. I agree. Heavily armed ICE and CBP agents, who are paid with our tax dollars, hide their identities as they storm into our homes without warrants, suppress free speech, and even murder U.S. citizens who engage in peaceful protest. Many people feel it is time to stop this cruelty and violence. Yet what can we do? One answer is to flood the streets. Indeed, in places like Chicago and Minneapolis, we’ve seen tens of thousands show up to demand an end to the militarized occupation of their cities. And millions nationwide have turned out to No Kings rallies, and will do so again this March 28th. Mass moments like this are important; they show us we are not alone. Yet on their own, they are not enough …” (03/22/26)

    https://ourfuture.org/20260322/power-is-built-one-conversation-at-a-time

  • Trump wants an Iwo Jima moment in Iran; will Americans be OK with the fallout?

    Source: The Hill
    by Jos Joseph

    “The news that the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) might be headed to the Middle East to reinforce the 31st MEU, which was already ordered there, raises the odds that ground troops might play a part in President Trump’s war with Iran. … We all know of Joe Rosenthal’s famous picture of the raising of the American flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. Trump will want to have a similar image to get the American public hyped about an unpopular war and to boost his own image as a warfighting President along the likes of Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Roosevelt. But what Trump needs to understand is what happened after the Iwo Jima photo was released to the public.” (03/23/26)

    https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5795673-marines-middle-east-trump/

  • Britain Is Bringing Back the Blasphemy Laws — and the Free Speech Union is Taking the Government to Court

    Source: The American Conservative
    by Toby Young

    “[UK secretary of state for communities Steve] Reed has officially adopted a definition of ‘anti-Muslim hostility’ — ‘Islamophobia’ by another name — and announced that a government-appointed ‘special representative,’ a so-called ‘czar,’ will record complaints and ensure that anyone who falls foul of the definition is ‘appropriately’ dealt with. … Now, you might think: What’s wrong with that? Nobody wants Muslims to face hatred or discrimination. But here’s the problem. Discrimination against Muslims — indeed, against people of any religion — is already illegal under Britain’s Equality Act of 2010. … Britain repealed blasphemy laws that proscribed attacks on Christianity in 2008. It would be a peculiar irony if, 18 years later, a Labour government reinstated a new version of them …” (03/23/26)

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/britain-is-bringing-back-the-blasphemy-laws-and-the-free-speech-union-is-taking-the-government-to-court/

  • Why Donald Trump Just Can’t Stop Going to War

    Source: TomDispatch
    by Patrick Strickland

    “After protests across Iran turned deadly in January, President Donald Trump promised Iranians that ‘help is on the way’. On February 28th, the U.S. and Israel launched what immediately became a devastating war on Iran. American and Israeli warplanes began dropping bombs on a country of some 93 million people. Trump soon put out a video address, telling Iranians that ‘the hour of your freedom is at hand’. Around the time that video appeared, Iranians in the city of Minab were sorting through the corpses of more than 165 people killed in an airstrike on an elementary school for girls. That same day, an airstrike killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an 86-year-old who was supposedly already in poor health. Throughout the ensuing days, American and Israeli attacks struck hospitals, historic sites, and more schools.” (03/22/26)

    https://tomdispatch.com/why-donald-trump-just-cant-stop-going-to-war/

  • Could Artificial Intelligence Finally Make Central Planning Work?

    Source: Foundation for Economic Education
    by Sergio Martinez

    “During the early 1970s, the Chilean government imposed price controls on thousands of goods while expanding state control over industry. Shortages multiplied, black markets expanded, and economic coordination deteriorated. Political instability soon followed, culminating in the military coup of 1973. At first glance, the lesson seemed clear: central planning could not replicate the complex coordination performed by markets. And yet the idea never completely disappeared. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have revived an old argument. If earlier socialist planners failed because they lacked sufficient computing power, perhaps modern algorithms could finally solve the problem. Some contemporary writers have openly suggested this possibility.” (03/23/26)

    https://fee.org/articles/could-artificial-intelligence-finally-make-central-planning-work/

  • Two great ideas on how to deal with the Iran war consequences that Trump should consider

    Source: New York Post
    by Miranda Devine

    “As we enter the fourth week of the Iran war (or ‘excursion’), here are two great ideas about how to deal with some of the consequences — both from outside the Beltway. In fact, right in New York. One idea, unusually, is from longtime President Trump critic and former swamp creature Richard Haass, now back in his hometown. The other is from Wall Street guru Larry Kudlow, Trump’s great friend and former economic adviser. Both ideas are elegantly unconventional. In his Substack last week, Haass took a moment from trashing the president to suggest an alternative to boots on the ground for the prickly problem of opening the Strait of Hormuz, where tankers carrying one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas are being throttled by Iran. Don’t send the Marines in to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s principal export terminal — just close the Strait.” (03/22/26)

    https://nypost.com/2026/03/22/opinion/2-great-ideas-on-how-to-deal-with-the-iran-war-consequences-that-trump-should-consider/

  • The Bottleneck is the Birth Canal

    Source: Underthrow
    by Max Borders

    “A confluence of trends, events, and crises are all hitting the West at about the same time. We have entered an era of profound transformation. What lies beyond the pain?” (03/23/26)

    https://underthrow.substack.com/p/the-bottleneck-is-the-birth-canal

  • It’s Unethical To Have Sympathy For Israelis

    Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
    by Caitlin Johnstone

    “Israel’s Foreign Ministry has posted a statement on Twitter which reads, ‘The Iranian regime devastated Arad and Dimona by deliberately striking civilians with missiles. Over 100 people were injured, including children. A blatant war crime. Pure terrorism.’ I don’t want to be one of those people who wastes their time criticizing ‘hypocrisy’ in foreign policy, but holy fucking shit, dude. Jesus Christ. My God. I will never, ever express sympathy for Israelis. Ever. Under any circumstances. To do so would be irresponsible, because Israel always weaponizes sympathy and then uses that weapon to commit mass atrocities. If the world gives Israel sympathy for civilians injured by an Iranian airstrike over the weekend in a war Israel started, by Friday they’ll be using that sympathy to justify nuking Tehran. I don’t enjoy holding this position.” [editor’s note: Then perhaps you should start distinguishing Israeli non-combatants from the Israeli regime, Ms. Johnstone; then you’d have a shot at getting it right – TLK] (03/22/26)

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/03/22/its-unethical-to-have-sympathy-for-israelis-and-other-notes/

  • “Identifying with,” Politics, and Life

    Source: ProSocial Libertarians
    by Andrew Jason Cohen

    “Its common today to talk about an individual’s ‘identity’ and mean the group or groups they either associate themselves with (i.e., take themselves to be members of) or that they are, ascriptively, taken by others to be associated with. People ‘identify as’ straight, gay, trans, black, Hispanic, Latino, Conservative, Christian, Jewish, etc. etc. etc. What is this really? On one influential account, from (I think) Kwame Appiah (see his The Ethics of Identity), to ‘identify with’ a group is to take reasons from that group as one’s own reasons. This strikes me as a plausible way to understand the term. If Joe identifies as Hispanic, he would take reasons common to other Hispanic people as his own. Ascriptively, I gather, others would assume — rightly or wrongly — that Joe has such reasons. All of that seems entirely plausible. I also think it is (if accurate) unfortunate.” (03/23/26)

    https://prosociallibertarians.substack.com/p/identifying-with-politics-and-life

  • Scarcity and the Machine: Opportunity Cost in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

    Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
    by Michael Matulef

    “AI is everywhere now — woven into our workplaces, our devices, and our daily routines — and with its spread comes a rising fear: what happens when there’s no meaningful work left for humans? AI is becoming the silent collaborator behind almost everything we make. Yet its presence creates a new kind of tension: not whether we can use it, but how we should. Regardless of the advancements in AI, the central question does not change: given scarcity, what should you do with your time, and what should you let the tools do?” (03/23/26)

    https://mises.org/mises-wire/scarcity-and-machine-opportunity-cost-age-artificial-intelligence

  • Kentucky’s licensing rules block sexual assault survivors from accessing care

    Source: Bluegrass Institute
    by Akiva Malamet & Alicia Plemmons

    “Kentucky’s SANE shortage means many survivors do not get the care they need after the worst experience of their lives.” (03/23/26)

    https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/sanes-malamet-plemmons/

  • Weaponized Data via Silencer

    Source: Common Sense
    by Paul Jacob

    “‘Authoritarian regimes have developed strong cyber espionage capabilities that enable their influence and coercion operations,’ explains a National Intelligence Council ‘assessment,’ dated April 7, 2020. … The report calls this technological capacity ‘digital authoritarian capabilities’ — yet our own government has the same. It accuses China of marshaling ‘mass surveillance and AI-driven algorithmic tracking of its citizens’ behavior at home to inform the use of soft or coercive incentives and disincentives to control them,’ but that, I’m afraid, is what our government does, too.” (03/24/26)

    https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/03/23/weaponized-data-via-silencer/

  • Afroman turns court into First Amendment rap lesson on rights

    Source: Fox News
    by Jonathan Turley

    “When singer Joseph E. Foreman took the stand recently in Ohio, his message, like his lyrics, was hardly subtle. Indeed, counsel may have been unsure whether to examine or to hoist him. The rapper, known as ‘Afroman,’ appeared in a suit modeled after an American flag with matching flag-patterned sunglasses. He lashed out at the seven police officers who raided his home and then sued him for publicly mocking them. He insisted that he was the virtual embodiment of the First Amendment in all of its glory. The jury agreed, at least insofar as finding him protected in his parody and public portrayal of the officers. Almost three years ago, I wrote about the case and expressed deep skepticism about the legal viability of the case in light of free speech protections for filming and criticizing public officials.” (03/23/26)

    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-afroman-turns-court-first-amendment-rap-lesson-rights

  • Supplementing Hayek’s Vision of Interstate Federalism: Insights from Deudney’s Philadelphian System

    Source: Isonomia Quarterly
    by Vikash Yadav

    “What are the conditions under which a federation or union of liberal states is possible in the international system? This question preoccupied Friedrich Hayek’s thinking on international relations from the nineteen-thirties onward as he looked to revive liberalism and ease the political frictions that were convulsing through Europe.” (03/23/26)

    https://isonomiamag.substack.com/p/supplementing-hayeks-vision-of-interstate

  • The destruction of Gaza has not ended

    Source: Responsible Statecraft
    by Martin Di Caro

    “As the war in Iran absorbs the world’s attention, with its images of dead school girls and flattened buildings, it may be easy to overlook Gaza. It has been a full five months since a ceasefire went into effect. It did not stop the bloodshed and intense suffering: Israeli forces have killed hundreds of Palestinians since October, and the enclave remains in dire need of food and medicine. Yet Gaza has disappeared from America’s front pages as the Trump administration’s Board of Peace, mostly bereft of Palestinian leadership, attempts to steer a peace plan to its second phase.” (03/23/26)

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/the-destruction-of-gaza-has-not-ended/

  • When Judges Go Rogue

    Source: Brownstone Institute
    by Bobbie Anne Flower Cox

    “hough I am an attorney in practice for almost thirty years now, I have always said that not all issues can be resolved in a court of law. I say this not because I lack confidence in our judicial system, but because not all issues are subject to the decision of a court. In other words, judges can’t have a say in everything! This is the premise behind our stalwart foundational doctrine of Separation-of-Powers where each of our three, co-equal branches of government have their own sphere of influence and power, and each is to stay out of the others’ lanes.” (03/23/26)

    https://brownstone.org/articles/when-judges-go-rogue/

  • Adam Smith on the Labor Theory of Value

    Source: EconLog
    by Steven Horwitz

    “There are many things Adam Smith got right about economics, including the discipline’s fundamental insight about the unplanned nature of market-driven economic and social order. He is rightly called the founder of economics for that reason. However, he did not get everything right. One of his most important errors, and one he shared with many 18th and 19th century economists, including Karl Marx, was his erroneous theory of value and explanation of price.” (03/23/26)

    https://www.econlib.org/econlog/adam-smith-on-the-labor-theory-of-value

  • Trump’s Disastrous War Comes Home to Roost

    Source: The Contrarian
    by Jennifer Rubin

    “As unpopular as Donald Trump’s ill-conceived, incompetently managed war was when it began, it is now more unpopular with a key segment of voters. ‘Trump’s net approval of -20 for handling the situation in Iran represents a drop from last week’s poll. Then, 39% of Americans approved of how Trump was handling Iran and 52% disapproved — a net approval of -13,’ The Economist/YouGov reported last week. While Democrats and Republicans have not changed their minds about the war much, ‘opinion among Independents of how Trump’s handling Iran fell to 24% approve / 63% disapprove (-39 net) this week from 30% approve / 53% disapprove last week (-23 net).’ The longer the war drags on, and the higher gas prices go, the worse those poll numbers will look for Trump and his pusillanimous enablers in Congress.” (03/23/26)

    https://www.contrariannews.org/p/trumps-disastrous-war-comes-home

  • Quantum Vibe, 03/23/26

    Source: Big Head Press
    by Scott Bieser

    Cartoon. (03/23/26)

    https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2580

  • Why US Cuba Coverage Falls Far Short of the Truth

    Source: Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
    by Tyler Wann

    “The US government’s decades-long economic blockade against Cuba is in many ways not a complicated issue. The policy of restricting trade with the country’s Communist government was put into full force under the Kennedy administration, with the explicit goal of causing enough economic hardship, hunger and desperation to spur regime change. The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly and consistently voted to end the embargo since a resolution to that effect was first introduced in 1992. Member countries argue that the embargo violates international law. It has cost the country anywhere between $130–170 billion since its inception, and has restricted the Cuban people’s access to food and medicine. And it has not accomplished its primary goal of overthrowing the Cuban government. These are key points that should be included in any article reporting on Cuba’s economic struggles.” (03/22/26)

    https://fair.org/home/as-washington-succeeds-in-wrecking-cubas-economy-us-media-blame-the-victim/

  • When Hyperglobalization Meets Chaos

    Source: Paul Krugman
    by Paul Krugman

    “Donald Trump and his minions are having a meltdown. On Saturday, Trump lashed out at the New York Times for an article saying the obvious — that many of his original war goals, whatever they may have been, remain unaccomplished. Just an hour later, he posted a threat to commit massive war crimes, saying that if Iran doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours — that is, today — he will order U.S. forces to begin bombing civilian power plants. Why the desperation? The answer is obvious. It’s turning out not just that regime change — if that was really the goal — is hard to engineer, but also that the world is a lot more dependent on the Strait of Hormuz than Trump and co. seem to have realized.” (03/23/26)

    https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/when-hyperglobalization-meets-chaos

  • Silent Cal’s Loud Lesson on Tax Cuts

    Source: The Daily Economy
    by Jeffery L Degner

    “A century ago, the federal government ran surpluses under lower tax rates. But that’s impossible with our out-of-control spending.” (03/23/26)

    https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/silent-cals-loud-lesson-on-tax-cuts/